September: The Month Apple And Samsung Play A Big-Stakes Game

A hot piece of tech chatter says Samsung will show its rumored smartwatch device at the September 4 launch event for its flagship Galaxy Note III phablet. That's just six days before Apple's big rumored event for the launch of its next-generation iPhone and, possibly, it's cheaper iPhone. Ding ding, seconds away: Round one!

SamMobile.com is behind the rumored Samsung date for the Galaxy Gear smartwatch. The site is confident in its sources, confident enough to say "we can confirm that Samsung will indeed unveil the Galaxy Gear smartwatch" at the Unpacked Episode 2 event scheduled for September 4th. That's where the Korean company is going to reveal its next-gen Galaxy Note III, which SamMobile says will have a giant 5.68 full HD OLED screen—bigger than the previous generation Note II, while still allegedly coming in the same sized chassis. The phablet category has been a surprisingly successful one, despite the apparent impracticality of such large devices.

Samsung's smartwatch is said to be a companion device for the company's smartphones, rather than a full-fledged mobile device in its own right. Recent rumors have suggested that the device may look a lot like an earlier Apple patent for a companion device smartwatch.

Apple seems unlikely to reveal a smartwatch of its own at its September event for a couple of reasons: We expect the event to center around the iPhone and iPad, which are Apple's big revenue earners. Apple is already thought to be planning to reveal a new game-changing mid-range iPhone, possibly called the 5C after its colorful plastic back, at the event, and possibly a new iPad Mini with retina screen. We've also not seen a leak of any hardware for any purported iWatch, even though parts for the new iPads and iPhones have surfaced online.